Sixers trade Green, Smith

76ers President Rod Thorn announced today that the team has acquired forwards Darius Songaila and Craig Brackins from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for guard Willie Green and forward/center Jason Smith.

"We made the move for these two players to add additional depth to our front court and to add out-court shooting, which was an area that we felt needed improving," Thorn said. "Songaila is a hard-working, veteran forward who will give us another option up front and Brackins is a rookie that we feel has a chance to develop into a very productive player at this level."

Songaila, at 6-9 and 248 pounds, is set to enter his eighth NBA season. In 485 games played with 79 starts for Sacramento, Chicago, Washington and New Orleans, he has averaged 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.9 minutes per game while shooting 49.9% from the floor and 84.6% from the line.

A native of Lithuania, Songaila attended high school in the United States and went on to star at Wake Forest, earning Honorable Mention All-America honors from The Associated Press his senior season. He has been a member of the Lithuanian National Team since 1998 and has played in the past three Olympic Games (2000, 2004 and 2008). Songaila was originally the 50th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in the 2002 NBA Draft.

Brackins (6-10, 230) was the 21st overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. His rights were traded to the Hornets along with the right to Quincy Pondexter in exchange for Morris Peterson and the rights to Cole Aldrich on July 8, 2010.

As a junior at Iowa State last season, Brackins led the Cyclones in scoring (16.5 ppg) and blocks (1.18 bpg), while ranking second in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and assists (2.2 apg). He also knocked down 69 3-pointers in 96 career games played. Brackins was named to the All-Big 12 First Team as a sophomore and the All-Big 12 Second Team as a junior.

Green has played all seven of his NBA seasons with the Sixers, averaging 9.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 21.8 minutes in 422 games played with 211 starts. He was originally selected with the 41st overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by Seattle, but the Sixers acquired his rights that night in exchange for the draft rights to Paccelis Morlende and cash considerations.

Smith has also spent his entire career with the Sixers to this point, averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 132 games played with three starts. He was originally the 20th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by Miami before the Sixers acquired him in exchange for the rights to Daequan Cook, a second round pick in 2009 and cash considerations.